I like to think I can read - and write - for comprehension but scoring seems to be my stopping point where subject matter is concerned 
I’m blaming it on the adult ammy brain - apologies to the recent article about the stereotypes but, I’m all in on embracing them. Situationally, anyway.
@CBoylen, thanks for responding. I’m very appreciative of your comments. Thank you for engaging in this forum and providing your knowledge.
I was responding to another poster. The announced scores does seem to require judges to commit to a judgement. 80 wins over 79. That’s the math.
Getting back to the original issue: any insight about what’s going on that drive this task force to be spun up? Sissy’s article named a lot of things, but none of them seem to be new. Did one or more of those suddenly become a bigger impact?
If Becky can’t understand that her slow and lopey horse looked slow because it’s frankly too big to make the lines ride nicely, then it won’t matter what her trainer says. We all watched Cannon Creek crawl at the CC this week. It wasn’t pretty. Yet he was brilliant at derby finals. If Becky wants to ride the Eiffel Tower then Becky needs to be taught how to package her horse up and shorten the stride without losing impulsion, and not continue to lope along courses. And if Becky is this obsessive over a 90 no judge or trainer can help her. In your example, it won’t matter what the judge OR trainer says because Becky is going to summon the opinions of everyone and their brother while she obsesses over 2 points. Nobody wants to train a Becky.
True, but everyone has at least one.
@CBoylen, that’s good for a laugh! And you hope, only one at a time.
The discussion on numerical scoring’s been very informative for me. And yeah, all of this only goes so far, as in:
“Why did I get/didn’t get a __?”
“Because you got a 65.”
“Why did I get a 65?” - and there we go!
A long time ago, I had a kid tell me how she should have one the classic, she was easily the best! I told her, well, you did have a 65 and the winner had an 82, so you weren’t the best. She then said, well, when I showed with my former trainer, I won one with a 65! I replied, Well, then everybody must have been even worse than you were
That shut her up. She went through about 3 other trainers before she aged out and went off to school
The judging system is corrupt. It is heavily weighted towards those spending the most money. There are countless examples but just look at talent search finals last weekend. There were two rounds that had cross cantering down lines received high 80s and top 10 ribbons. Every time my horse has done that I’ve rightfully received 60s. Last year at the same final one horse kicked out at a lead change and got an 80. That is an automatic 50. I am so hopeful this can change.
Judging varies really widely depending on the show. Our regional circuit, the judging is usually not great and the same people win pretty much always unless they fall over a jump or two. I have regularly pinned below people with dangerous distances and very late changes. I recently showed at Capital Challenge. My horse is nice, but he doesn’t move well and doesn’t make much effort at verticals. He can get quick. Nice thing about that shows is that there are two judges for every class. I certainly didn’t get good prizes in any class, but I never got worse than an 80 and did indeed beat major people who made mistakes: pulling to the miss, late change, swap, etc.
@CBoylen, your comment about low scoring at local shows made me both shudder and laugh, thinking about the time I got raked over the coals on this very forum for stating that I had just experienced that exact situation as a judge.
I believe the Talent Search judges the rider, not the horse, so kicking out at a lead change would not necessarily lower the riders score. It’s not a hunter class.
That is judging the rider if the horse kicks out during a lead change. I know of at least another instance where a 50 was given for that reason in that class.
There are no “automatic 50’s” for that reason in an equitation class.
I am repeating multiple judge’s explanation of a score. It speaks all the more to a need for a system that has a sense of consistency.
The judge ‘wants’ the final word because that is literally the judge’s job. To place them in order of preference. There is no ‘math’.
Card to download for everyone to practice.
There’s more time in a hunter round for a scribe to write down judge’s comments than during a dressage test.
Judge’s feedback IS a lesson. Not necessarily a training lesson, but a lesson on how to ride to the best of your ability in the show ring, i.e. “ring craft”.
Brief comments from a judge written next to the scores can be very helpful and provide an explanation of the scores. Remarks such as “Needs more.______” (pace, brilliance, bend, etc.) or “Not straight” explain the reason for each the score.
Who wants to wonder and guess why they received a certain score ? Comments take care of that, and riders learn something.
To go with the card above, this explains a little bit on how to mark your card. Everyone tweaks the system a little bit for their own personal use, but this is generally the conventional route that everyone starts with as symbols.
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